


out from under the sun

by slampora



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, Future Fic, Humanstuck, Meet-Cute, also features mentions of Jade and Jake but they aren't important in here enough to tag them, this fic is... a lot and I know that and I'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 17:19:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14061681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slampora/pseuds/slampora
Summary: Rose reminisces on the first night she met Kanaya, with or without Dave and Karkat's encouragement. What do they know, anyway?





	out from under the sun

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely started writing this for Rosemary month back in October but... then depression happened so here it is now, many many months later! 
> 
> Title is from Take Your Time Coming Home by fun. 
> 
> (also no one in this fic is white Or cis because I make the rules here. Don't like it? Lick my nuts.)

Rose Lalonde sits in a wooden chair at her kitchen table, hands wrapped around a mug she made in a community center pottery class. She’s bundled herself up in an emerald green sweater covered in a complex cable pattern that she spent six weeks planning out on a spreadsheet. Sunlight streams through the thin curtains at the window, casting shadow across half of Dave Strider’s face. The earl grey latte she made herself sits untouched, cradled in her hands. She sighs. 

“Rose, listen, about Kanaya,” Dave begins. Karkat, from his own seat in the living room lets out a noise to indicate that Dave should not say what he is about to say. Rose is a little surprised that Karkat, of all people, has suddenly learned tact. She raises an eyebrow at Dave. 

“Dave,” she says, “Have I ever told you the story of the night I met Kanaya?” She takes a sip of her tea. It’s too hot. 

~

_At twenty three, Rose Lalonde was nothing short of a disaster. Her brother had once lovingly referred to her as a dumpster fire in four dollar leggings. Their mother had more than once lovingly bought her a session with her psychic and restocked her supply of xanax. The psychic told her that she was actively moving in direct opposition of what was best for her, cosmically. The xanax was nice, though._

_Jade had just thrown a party. It was originally to celebrate something to do with her dog graduating dog school, but it had turned into an all out rager by the time Rose got there. Despite the general chaos, Rose distinctly remembered taking at least three shots in honor of Jade’s fucking dog. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Rose’s memories of the party were not nearly as distinct._

_She stumbled down the sidewalk, holding the bottle of wine she took from Jade’s house when she left. It had to be around two in the morning, but she couldn’t be sure. Her phone was dead and Rose felt like she was about to join it. She stopped for a moment to get her bearings._

_Going home was ideal, but she was acutely aware of the fact that she had no idea where she was. Jade’s neighborhood was labyrinthine at night. There was probably a bus station within a few blocks of where she was, and if she managed to get there, she could probably find her way home. Dave would probably be pissed that she was coming back so late, but he’d be more pissed if she didn’t come home at all. She pulled her jacket up from where it had fallen down her shoulders, wrenched the cork from the bottle she held and took a long drink. And then she started walking._

~

“Rose,” Karkat says as he sits down at the kitchen table. She looks over at him and says nothing. He sighs. “We need to talk about this,” he says. Dave drums his fingers against the table anxiously. He would probably rather be anywhere else at this moment. Rose has no sympathy. 

Karkat sighs, again, and says, “Rose, come on. You can’t keep doing this to yourself. Kanaya-.” Rose cuts him off. 

“Don’t talk about my wife like that, Karkat,” she snaps. Dave clenches his jaw. He looks like he’s trying desperately to find a way to dissolve the mounting tension but there aren’t any fucking jokes he can tell that wouldn’t just make things worse. Rose takes another sip of her tea and sets the mug back down in a way that’s almost challenging. She wishes she could just be upfront about it. She wants to dare Karkat and Dave to cut the shit and say what they’re all thinking. She wants to push them until they break. 

~

_Rose had no idea where she was. She had taken a left somewhere a few blocks back where maybe she should have taken a right. Or something. In all honesty she was stranded and drunk out of her mind with no way to contact anyone who could come get her. Something akin to panic was rising within her. She felt tears bubbling up but she quickly shut them down. Rose had never been a weepy drunk and, despite everything going on, she wasn’t about to become one now._

_She continued her walk, and she convinced herself that the nondescript buildings she saw were familiar and that she was pretty much already home. She objectively knew that she wasn’t, but that wasn’t the point. Her nerves were on edge, like at any moment something was going to happen that would change her life forever. She dismissed the thought. That was the kind of thing her mother’s psychic would say, and that, no offence to the psychic, was complete and utter horseshit._

_And yet, as she approached a street corner, the feelings grew stronger. Her vision was too blurry to make out what exactly they said but she had a gnawing in her gut that was telling her to turn left. So she did._

~ 

“Rose I don’t understand why you keep doing this!” Karkat shouts. Rose says nothing to him and he throws his arms up in frustration. “Dave why do you always fucking indulge her?” he turns to his boyfriend. Dave is clenching his jaw like he’s about to explode but he doesn’t want to make the situation any worse than it is. Rose ignores both of them. 

She stands up from her seat, purposely letting the chair drag across the hardwood floor obnoxiously. She moves to the living room with her mug of tea in hand and goes to sit in the armchair next to the front window. She looks forlornly out the window and sighs. Karkat looks like he’s going to start throwing things. Dave calmly, and a little tensely, moves to join her in the living room. 

“Rose,” he says with a diplomatic tone, “I really think that you should listen to Karkat. I know you don’t like doing that but this is getting out of hand.” She gives him an icy glare and sips at her tea. 

“This isn’t healthy,” he says, almost pleading. She kind of feels bad for him. Kind of. 

“I don’t need you of all people to tell me what is and isn’t healthy, Dave,” she responds. Dave clenches his jaw, the grinding of his teeth is audible. She raises an eyebrow at him. She knows she struck a nerve with him. But, she also knows that she hasn’t crossed any lines. Yet. 

~

_Rose still wasn’t quite sure where she was, but she did recognize a few places that she passed. This still wasn’t her neighborhood, but she had a feeling that she had been here before. She didn’t need her phone to know that it was well past two in the morning, which meant that even if she could find a bus stop they wouldn’t be running at this hour. She was well and truly fucked._

_She kept walking, unsure of what she was walking towards but that feeling in her gut told her that she needed to keep moving forward._

_At the end of the block she was on she saw a stoop that looked strangely inviting. There were potted plants lining the stairs and from what she could see, some beautiful curtains in the windows. She approached it and saw a little dish with dry cat food in it on the porch. Either the cat was inside or it was for any feral cats in the area, but that little dish stirred something in her and she felt compelled to approach it._

_Her footing wasn’t as steady as she wanted it to be, thanks to the now nearly empty bottle of wine she held. She managed to make it up most of the way before she tripped over a crack in the second to last step. She tumbled forward and loudly crashed into the front door._

_“Oh God fucking dammit,” she cursed. A light came on from inside the house. Rose had no idea how she was going to explain herself to whoever owned this place. Hopefully they’d understand and let her use their phone to call Dave so he could come get her, but worst case scenario they called the police and she’d have to call Dave from the station after she inevitably got arrested for public drunkenness. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but she still wasn’t looking forward to the fines and community service that would follow. Not to mention the fact that a particularly hostile cop might just throw her in jail without letting her call her brother until the morning. Dave was somehow even more anxious than she was and he’d assume the worst if she didn’t find a way to contact him if she was in trouble. Fuck. This probably wasn’t going to end well for her._  
~ 

Dave looks at Rose with exasperation. “Please, Rose, I don’t know why this is happening but can you please just talk to me about it?” He looks a little pathetic, begging her to open up. It’s almost like they’re kids again, except instead of Rose insisting that she wasn’t upset at their mother for doing something decidedly un-motherly she’s insisting that everything is fine between her and her wife. She twists the gold band around her ring finger, playing with it nervously as if it would make Kanaya suddenly burst through the front door. Dave catches the action and doesn’t say anything. He just gets up and walks back into the kitchen to mutter with Karkat. Neither of them know what to do with her anymore, that much is clear. 

~

_The front door of the house opened, and Rose immediately began to try and explain herself, apologizing profusely before she noticed the figure leaning down with a hand outstretched to help her up._

_“Rose?” the voice of the homeowner asked. Rose was confused that this person knew her name already. How drunk was she? She didn’t typically forget entire people, especially ones who’d be kind enough to not scream at her when she acted a drunken fool on their doorstep. She took the stranger’s hand and stood, and looked into the eyes of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life. She stood there in the doorstep wearing a fuzzy bathrobe and matching slippers. Her hair was wrapped up in a silky looking bonnet and she had very cleary just woken up. And, she was absolutely, without a doubt, gorgeous._

_The strange woman saw that Rose was staring at her boldly, and a blush bloomed over her features. She smiled awkwardly and Rose thought her knees were going to buckle. She still hadn’t let go of her hand._

_“I’m uh, sorry for falling into your door,” Rose said softly. She was still overwhelmed by how beautiful this woman was._

_“Oh! It’s fine I’m just glad you aren’t hurt. Do you need to use my phone? Dave texted me earlier to let me know that you were wandering in my direction after you left Jade’s house earlier,” she said. Her voice was melodic and articulate and Rose almost didn’t understand a word she was saying it was so gorgeous._

_Rose’s confusion must have shown on her face at the woman’s familiarity._

_“Oh goodness I’m so sorry. You were a little out of it at Jade’s party, but we met there earlier,” she began. Rose began connecting the dots. How could she have forgotten meeting someone so absolutely gorgeous?_

_Then she remembered that Dave had been trying to introduce her to one of his boyfriend’s friends and that she had been in the middle of trying to beat Jade’s weird cousin Jake at arm wrestling at the time. She had won, obviously, and by the time she realized that Dave had been trying to talk to her, he had already left the party. Right before her phone died she had read his text about this girl he knew who he thought she’d like and how he’d meet her at their apartment later. He had also reminded her to drink water, with a smarmy comment about how she wasn’t some kind of reverse Jesus who could transmute wine into water, and he didn’t want to babysit her hungover ass in the morning because he had things to do later._

~ 

Rose looks out the window. She hears Dave and Karkat arguing about her in the kitchen but she chooses to ignore them. Part of her feels a little bad, after all, Dave and Karkat rarely fight. At the same time, she figures that they deserve it for poking their noses into her business in the first place. She’s still thinking about her wife and the first time she had ever laid eyes on the only woman she would ever love this strongly. Her wedding ring feels like it was lit to a thousand degrees on her finger as she looks out the window and takes in a shuddering breath. 

It isn’t that she thinks Dave and Karkat don’t understand. They do, but that’s the worst part of it for Rose. She knows that they understand the loneliness, the feeling that somewhere along the line she made a choice that changed her life forever without even knowing it. Both of them understand that feeling deeply, and Rose knows this, and even still she can’t stop herself from bringing them along for the ride of her growing misery rather than letting them guide her through it. They do care, she thinks to herself as she watches them settle their argument in the kitchen, and that’s the worst part. 

~

_The woman’s house was impeccably decorated and quite possibly the most inviting space that Rose had ever been in before. Every carefully arranged side table and bookshelf seemed to call out to Rose’s drunken mind, saying, “Please Rose, stay. You belong here.” She wasn’t made uneasy by this feeling like she normally would have been. In fact she felt relaxed in a way that was almost unnatural. Like the ever present undercurrent of fear that typically ran through her on a daily basis knew it wasn’t welcome in this space._

_She was lingering by the door while the woman ran to her bedroom to get her phone from where it was charging. She was going to call Dave to come get Rose from here, although as it turned out they were just around the corner from Rose and Dave’s own apartment. It was funny how these things worked out sometimes._

_Rose wasn’t nearly as drunk as she had been before, although she certainly had been more sober in recent memory. She resolved, privately, that if she was too drunk at Jade’s party to remember meeting someone as gorgeous as this woman that she never wanted to be that drunk again. It was a small step, she supposed, towards becoming less like an on fire garbage can and more like a human being. But then again, small steps tended to add up._

_She was still a bit lost in thought as the woman came down the hall holding her phone. Rose noticed her approach and nearly swooned._

_Then she kicked herself because she still didn’t know her name. She wanted to ask, but at the same time she felt like that would be incredibly rude, especially since they, evidently, had mostly identical social circles._

_The woman handed Rose her phone and in the moment their hands connected, Rose gently grabbed it._

_“I want to thank you for being so kind to me even though I’m kind of a mess right now,” she said while cradling the woman’s soft hand in hers. Rose expected her to withdraw her hand and say something about how it wasn’t a big deal or something like that._

_What Rose absolutely did not expect was for the woman to adopt a full blush from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears from where they poked out of her bonnet._

_“Of course, it’s my pleasure, really. I’m, um, glad we got a chance to talk after all,” she stammered._

_Rose took in a deep breath._

_“Oh!” the woman said, suddenly looking embarrassed. “I realize I must not have told you before.”_

_Rose looked deep into her eyes, her deep dark brown eyes that now held a kind of twinkle that Rose couldn’t help but think was hopeful._

_“My name is Kanaya.”_

~ 

“Okay, I’ve had enough of this horseshit,” Karkat says in his best ‘I am desperately trying not to yell at you right now but we both know that I really want to be yelling at you’ voice. Rose snaps her attention from the front window to shoot him a glare. She’s clenching her jaw into a grimace. 

“Rose, you are being absolutely ridiculous right now! I honestly cannot believe that you pull this every-” He’s cut off by the sound of the front door opening. 

“I’m sorry that took so long, the line at the grocery store was horrendous,” Kanaya says as she walks into the house. “I can’t believe we forgot to get eggs at the farmer’s market yesterday, Rose, we knew we were inviting Dave and Karkat over for brunch today.” she continues as she walks towards the kitchen. 

“My love,” Rose cries towards her wife, “I missed you dearly while you were gone.” She walks into the kitchen and sweeps Kanaya into a deep embrace. Kanaya giggles and kisses Rose as if they had been separated for months. 

“It was literally fifteen minutes Dave. She does this every fucking time,” Karkat loudly whispers to Dave while they try not to watch Rose and Kanaya make out like teenagers in the kitchen. 

“I know dude, but what can you do? They’re just,” Dave takes a moment to think of the right phrasing, “Like that I guess.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Please feel free to comment, even if you just want to lament the fact that we're all still emotionally invested in fucking Homestuck in 2018. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @ bokuroho and twitter @slampora
> 
> Feel free to send me a message if you wanna talk about... Literally whatever I'm a virgo ass binch and I never shut up.


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